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(VIDEO) Kathleen Wynne continues to campaign on the taxpayer dime

(April 17, 2018) Despite it being an egregious abuse of tax dollars and the public trust, Kathleen Wynne continues to shamelessly campaign on the taxpayer dime.

Today in Question Period, Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson raised the issue, questioning the Wynne Liberals on their use of tax dollars for no less than 30 campaign-style announcements over the last couple of weeks.

The typical announcement costs $7,500, which means the Liberals have spent $225,000 in taxpayer money campaigning.

CTV News picked up the story. To watch their news story please CLICK HERE.

You can find Hansard of Wilson’s question below:

ONTARIO HANSARD – April 17, 2018

Government spending

Mr. Jim Wilson: My question’s for the Premier. Yesterday, the Liberals hosted four campaign-style events, and there are three more scheduled for today. They are clearly campaigning on the taxpayer dime each and every day. So I ask the Premier: Will the Liberal Party reimburse taxpayers for their campaign-style events?

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: Mr. Speaker, I say to the member opposite, I completely understand why he doesn’t want me to be talking about a fair wage policy in this province. I completely understand why he doesn’t want me to be talking about child care, care for seniors or more funding for hospitals. None of those things would be possible under their leader, Doug Ford, because he’s going to cut across government.

Mr. Speaker, every year we bring in a budget, we go out into the province and talk about that budget. That is what we are doing. That is what their party did. That is what the third party did. That is what governments do, to make sure people understand what is in the budget so that they will know what to expect. That’s how it works, and I know the member opposite knows that.

Interjection.

The Speaker (Hon. Dave Levac): The member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke is warned. And a few other, maybe.

Supplementary.

Mr. Jim Wilson: Back to the Premier: Premier, you have told the people of Ontario that the budget you just presented in this House is your campaign platform, so that means every event you have is promoting your campaign platform, using your own bloody logic. Stop doing it. It’s wrong and repay the taxpayers. The Liberal Party owes the taxpayers for thousands and thousands of dollars on these campaign-style events. Will you do the right thing and pay back the taxpayers?

Hon. Yasir Naqvi: The Premier of this province is the elected leader of the province and of the government. In her capacity, she attends many events. In her capacity, she is out talking about important government policies that are going to improve the lives of Ontarians every single day. In that capacity, Speaker, she will speak about the budget that is providing a plan for care and opportunity.

I totally get why the opposition is all worked up on this because they know they will be cutting all those important programs. They know that if they come into government, they’re going to cut OHIP+ that is going to provide pharmacare for youth under the age of 25 and for seniors over 65. If they’re in government, they’re going to cut funding for our hospitals, so that they can reduce wait-times. If they’re in government, they will cancel the OSAP program. That’s why they’re worked up and they want the Premier to talk about government promises.